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honestly. how do you price multiple cut letters and numbers

slappy

New Member
I just cut 126 2" characters according to flexi (for DOT and truck numbers) in a 23"x27" sheet of oracal 751 silver metallic.

How honestly do you come up with your pricing?

a. by size of the sheet (say 4sq ft x $whatever = profit)
or
b. charge by the letter (say $0.60x126=$75.60)

these are die cut and then i cut them down from that so they can just apply them to whatever they are going on

so they may have
4 of 5567
6 of DOT2893389
4 of KYU838383
and so on

but i cut them separate cause not every truck gets the same numbers. I don't know.... :banghead:

I know this has been debated before, and i remember someone had a formula here a long long time ago.. wonder where he went also now that i thnk of it)
What i guess is the most up to date method on pricing little big jobs like so?
 

tsgstl

New Member
My way might differ but.....
I get most of mine sent to me digitally. PDF or some form of word/txt file
this way I have very little to no key ins

I charge per linear foot of colored vinyl (24"):
x amount for wholesale per linear foot
x amount for non wholesale per linear foot

If it is different length I type all 8's and base all cost off of the longest one.
Obviously if you got 1000 one letter pieces and 100 8 letter pieces you would need some form of adjusting.

silver would be a tad more
serif fonts also get slightly marked up

I doubt this makes any sense

Anything under 1" text gets priced out after I see and test cut the lettering
 
J

john1

Guest
I typically have a flat rate for typical truck numbers. That keeps you profitable for someone wanting just 1 set and as well as someone wanting multiple sets. I know i get $20 for a set here. Typically 2-3"x18". By having a flat rate it allows you to come down per set also if you want for multiples.

If you wanted, You could take that sheet size and charge by the square to make it easier too. Just round up to the nearest square foot. I always charge more per square for die-cut vinyl because i factor in more time for cutting, weeding, masking, separating than for digital.
 

tsgstl

New Member
Let me be clear on why I do per linear foot based on 24"

I do mostly large runs for another company. I used to do it per sq foot but I was getting a lot of oddball sizes that didn't fit well on 24" rolls (lot of waste)
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Is this a once & done customer or a good repeat customer ??

Once & done gets charged full price of the amount of vinyl used, time setting up, weeding and taping plus markup and profit along with overhead.... and aggravation involved. Regular repeat, gets charged the same.... less the aggravation factor.

There was a thread a while back about customers putting it on themselves vs. our applying the vinyl. Here is where my practice comes into effect.
 

slappy

New Member
kinda a repeat i suppose.. not a lot, but a few times a year... I remember that thread, but it probably got more post to it since i read it. I will look into it :)
 

Marlene

New Member
how do you usually charge for vinyl letters? by the size & amount? if so, continue as the by the size & amount should have material, machine time, weed time and transfer tape factored in.
 

slappy

New Member
normally it's by the job by the size, but normally I don't have 126 things to weed around, that's where i get confused at with pricing
 

ThinkRight

New Member
I just cut 126 2" characters according to flexi (for DOT and truck numbers) in a 23"x27" sheet of oracal 751 silver metallic.

How honestly do you come up with your pricing?

a. by size of the sheet (say 4sq ft x $whatever = profit)
or
b. charge by the letter (say $0.60x126=$75.60)

these are die cut and then i cut them down from that so they can just apply them to whatever they are going on

so they may have
4 of 5567
6 of DOT2893389
4 of KYU838383
and so on

but i cut them separate cause not every truck gets the same numbers. I don't know.... :banghead:

I know this has been debated before, and i remember someone had a formula here a long long time ago.. wonder where he went also now that i thnk of it)
What i guess is the most up to date method on pricing little big jobs like so?
That's easy....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l91ISfcuzDw
Might be a little high though.
:omg2:
 

cajun312

New Member
Last month a customer came by and wanted 300 each of 2" numbers, 1 & 2.

I told him to hang on a second so I could check out much vinyl it would take and he asked if I could have 20 of each ready later that day, I said yes.
He told me his other quote was .75 each but to charge him a dollar each for the entire order and he'd tell the boss it was a rush job.

About two hours to cut, weed and and mask, took eight feet x 24" cast vinyl for $600 :clapping: I wish I'd one of those every day.
 

signswi

New Member
Cost of all materials (vinyl, tape, etc.) + labor cost (set up time + run time (machines are employees) + weeding time + taping time + packaging time) x markup ratio (which is calculated to cover all overhead costs and give desired profit margin).
 

petepaz

New Member
i have some customers that we have a similar job and we charge them per # set/strip.
DOT12345 6PC @ $5 each or what ever price you come up with based on your material and labor.
 
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